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Pacific Council preps for recall possiblities

Pacific residents will cast their votes in a special election on June 25 to decide whether to recall Mayor Cy Sun.

With results expected to be certified by July 9, the question then becomes, what’s next for Pacific?

According to Pat Mason, senior legal consultant with the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington, the immediate future lies in the hands of the City Council.

“If the mayor prevails, obviously he stays in office,” Mason said. “Assuming he is recalled, that creates a vacancy in the position of mayor.”

Mason explained that the City Council would then have the authority to fill the mayoral vacancy with a person of its choosing.

“Probably with someone off the council, but it doesn’t have to be,” Mason said.

According to Pacific Council President Leanne Guier, if the recall succeeds, the council would appoint Mayor Pro Tem James McMahan as mayor after July 9.

“He will then schedule a special meeting to appoint a new mayor to fill the rest of the term,” Guier said. “That date has not been confirmed as of yet. The (recall) committee is still researching things that would need to be prioritized in the event the recall does pass.”

That appointee would then serve out the remainder of Sun’s term, and the 2015 fall election would decide the next mayor, with that term beginning Jan. 1, 2016.

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